Of Vampires, Demons and Goddesses
by BobR
Summary: Wherein Ryoko and Ayeka have a little adventure.


Disclaimer

Tenchi and all associated characters are the property of AIC and Pioneer LDC.  I don't own any rights to them.  Any other characters are property of their respective copyright holders, not me.

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Of Vampires, Demons and Goddesses

Chapter 1

The Undead 

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"It's awfully quiet," whispered Ryoko, poking her head out of the dark alley.  "I wonder where we are?"  She saw a deserted street with various vendor carts scattered about, apparently at random.  A few had been tipped, spilling their contents across the pavement.

Ayeka sniffed and wrinkled her nose in disgust.  "Someplace nasty," she replied.  "It smells like rotten garbage."

Ryoko quirked a smile and pointed at the princess' feet.  Ayeka glanced down and saw what she was standing in.  "EEEEW!" she screamed and jumped out into the open street.  "I don't know why we're here," she mumbled as she attempted to scrape whatever it was off of her shoes.  "Sasami said she wanted tea.  They sell tea at the store in town."

"She wanted _English_ tea," Ryoko reminded her pointedly from her place in the shadows.

Ayeka inspected her shoes.  Good enough until she got home and could give them a thorough washing.  "And so you thought 'let's go to England.'  That still doesn't explain why you had to drag _me_ along on this little adventure, Ryoko dear.  And I happen to know that the store stocks a _fine_ selection of foreign…"

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!" a voice called.  "DON'T MOVE."  Ayeka froze in position.  Ryoko poked her head out again and saw a sandy haired young woman in a blue uniform running down the street towards them.  Then she did a double take.  The girl was carrying the biggest gun that the ex-pirate had ever seen, and it was pointing right at the princess.  No, on second glance it was pointing _past_ the princess.

The girl skidded to a stop just a few feet from Ayeka.  "What are you two doing here?" she asked, her red pupiled eyes wavering between the two women.  "I thought this area had been cleared of civilians."

"Ah, well.  We were just leaving, right Ayeka?" Ryoko said, grabbing the princess and preparing to teleport away.

"Ryoko…" Ayeka responded, pulling away in reflex.

The barrel of the huge gun flashed down and separated the two.  "Ayeka, Ryoko…  Those aren't English names.  You're aliens, aren't you?"

"Eh?" blinked a startled Ryoko.

"Foreigners, tourists.  Did you get separated from your group?"

"Something like that," Ryoko replied.  She took a finger and lifted the barrel out of the way.  Its weight surprised her; this young girl must be stronger than she looked.  The barrel slid back down and remained rock steady.  Ryoko was impressed.  She grinned, showing her fangs, hoping to frighten the girl a bit.  The girl grinned back, showing a much larger set of her own.

"Ahhh.  You're not human, are you?" the petite woman asked, eyeing the ex-pirate suspiciously.

Ryoko snickered.  "All right, you got me.  I _am_ a space alien, here to conquer the Earth.  Take me to your leader."  

Ayeka remained quiet throughout the exchange, eyeing the huge weapon.  She didn't know why the girl was carrying it and she really didn't want to know what she used it for, or on.  But Ryoko's comment about being an alien made her glance up at her cohort.  She followed the pirate's gaze and saw the teeth the other was sporting.  "Oh my," she gasped.  "Are you an alien too?"

"What?  No, I…  WATCH OUT!"  The weapon discharged with a roar and something behind them in the alley screamed in rage and pain as the 30mm WP round burned through it.  Ryoko whirled, a plasma ball forming in her right hand but all she saw were some floating dust motes and scraps of clothing fluttering to the ground.  "In the name of God, impure souls of the living dead shall be banished into eternal damnation. Amen," the girl muttered under her breath.

Ayeka heard all the action and even winced when the gun went off, but couldn't take her eyes off the young woman's sharply pointed canines.  Those, the red eyes and pale skin set off warning buzzers in her mind.  She had a nagging suspicion she knew what it all meant but couldn't put her delicate finger on it at the moment.  She could _feel_ something though, a kindred spirit of sorts.

The girl cracked open the breach of the portable cannon and ejected the spent casing.  "Inhuman bastards," she muttered as she pulled another shell out of the ammo sack strapped to her back, chambered it and snapped the weapon shut.  "Now, where were we?" she asked, idly standing the immense weapon on end.  "Oh yeah, you said you were aliens, right?  Doesn't that mean you're not human?"

Ayeka held up her hands.  "No, no.  We're human, really.  Right Ryoko?  We just got separated from our tour group.  Where did you say we are?"

"Speak for yourself Princess," Ryoko said, turning back to the other two.  She levitated and drifted over to the girl.  "That's some gun you got there honey," she said.  "What do you use it for?"

The fanged girl blinked several times rapidly, obviously not used to seeing someone float through the air.  "Use it for?  Why killing monsters of course."

"M…m...monsters?" stuttered Ayeka.

"Sure," the girl nodded.  "Vampires, ghouls, werewolves..."

Ayeka's eyes grew wide.  "Werewolves?"

Ryoko pointed off into the distance.  "There."

"Eh?" said Ayeka, caught off-guard by Ryoko's comment and gesture.  "What are you talking about you pirate?  There what?"

Ryoko snickered.  "There wolves.  Heh.  Sorry, I couldn't resist."  She saw the expression on the princess' face.  "Oh come on Ayeka, everyone knows there's no such thing as werewolves and vampires.  Just demons."

"Oh really?" the sandy haired girl said, her red eyes starting to glow.  "No such thing as vampires you say?  So you're a demon?"  She brought the gun up and pointed it at the ex-pirate.

Ryoko floated back a few feet, eyeing the gun speculatively.  "Uh, no, not really."

"But you flew, you have fangs…"

"Floated, actually.  And I can teleport, pass through solid objects and fire high-energy plasma from my hands.  So what?"

"Don't forget the sword," Ayeka reminded her.

"Sword?  Oh yeah."  The plasma glow returned to Ryoko's hand and she clenched her fist, forming a hissing energy blade.  "She meant this," the pirate confided in the other woman.  The sword hummed as she made a few passes through the air.  Then she opened her hand and the blade disappeared as if it had never existed.  The girl stared, eyes wide.

"And the ability to summon elementals," the princess muttered.

"That was a trick," Ryoko said out of the side of her mouth.

"Seemed real enough to me," Ayeka said, enjoying her rival's discomfiture.

There was a sharp click as the safety of the weapon was released and Ryoko saw the look of determination on the uniformed girl's face. "Shut up Ayeka or we're in real trouble here…"

"If you're not a demon with all these abilities, then what are you?"

Ryoko sighed.  "I already told you, I'm an alien. And so's Miss Prissy Princess here."  She glared at Ayeka.

The girl snorted but the big gun didn't waver an inch.  "All right, if you're aliens, then where's your spaceship?"

Ryoko pointed.  "In that vegetable cart over there probably."

The girl spared a glance in the indicated direction and the "spaceship" in question popped her head out of a small pile of gnawed carrots, the red jewel embedded in her forehead glinting evilly in the light of a distant streetlamp.  "Miya!" she said cheerfully.  The muzzle of the cannon hit the ground with a loud clang as the cabbit hoped over and clambered up onto her partner's shoulder.  The girl just stared open-mouthed at Ryo-ohki.  She'd never seen anything like her before and was beginning to believe the woman with the funny blue hair.

Something clicked in Ayeka's mind.  This girl wasn't afraid of monsters, she had fangs, extraordinary strength and could obviously see better than a cat in the dark, possibly even better than Ryoko.  She felt a stirring deep inside, a reaction, as she allowed a little of her suppressed power to trickle out.  Suddenly she _knew_ just what the other was.  She _had_ felt a kindred spirit earlier, one as reluctant as she to admit what she's become, a creature of darkness. "I know what you are," she said quietly.

The girl raised an eyebrow.  "Oh?  Who am I?"

"Not who, what.  You're one of the undead, a vampire.  And you hunt other vampires for some reason."

"For God and the Queen."  The girl looked at Ayeka strangely.  "But how did you guess?"

Ayeka chuckled and let her marks show faintly.  "I _know_ it, I can _feel_ it.  You were accusing Ryoko of being a demon.  Heh.  Actually, _I'm_ the demon."  She grinned, her own set of elongated choppers clearly visible in the fading light, her cheek and forehead markings glowing ever so slightly.

The girl snarled and the gun came up but before she could fire, the girl hesitated and suddenly raised her eyes to the heavens as if receiving a message.  Ryoko sensed _something_ happening on a high telepathic level, but couldn't quite tune in to it.   She nudged Ayeka, who nodded that she was also aware of it.

The blonde vampire lowered her head, red eyes glowing with an inner fire.  "My Lady."  She bowed slightly to Ayeka  "My master says I must get on with my mission and to leave you to yours."  She easily shouldered the heavy weapon and started off at a trot.  She stopped after a few meters and turned back to Ryoko.  "Oh, and tell Lady Washu that Alucard sends his regards."  

Ayeka allowed her demon marking fade back to near invisibility. "And what is _your_ name?" she called to the girl.

The vampire girl paused before answering.  "Seras.  Seras Victoria," she replied.  Seras waved at the princess, winked at the pirate then turned and disappeared into the darkness.  There were still a number of ghouls and a freak vampire to deal with out there somewhere…

Ryoko stood and stared at the spot where the young vampiress had disappeared.  Ayeka watched her for a moment, wondering just what was passing through her friend's mind.  "Ryoko… the tea?" the princess prompted.

The ex-pirate shook her cyan mane and her blank stare regained focus.  There was a glint in her eye and she quirked a smile.  "Screw the tea, princess.  Did you see the size of the gun she was carrying?"

Ayeka tugged at Ryoko's sleeve.  "Oh no.  I know what your thinking.  Sasami's expecting us back soon."

"Ah, she can send Tenchi after the damn tea, _this_ looks like it might be fun."  Ryoko grabbed the princess and Ayeka felt the queasiness that indicated the beginning of a teleport sequence.

"Ryoko…"  Ayeka's howl and the pirate's joyous laughter echoed through the now empty street.

*****

I… don't know; there _might_ be more.  

Ah hell…

To be continued.  Probably.

*****

Author's Notes.

A slightly different version of this has been sitting on my hard drive for a while now.  I decided to fit it in with my other stories and finish it up.  It was meant to be a one-shot, just exploring how a cross over between Tenchi and Hellsing might happen. (Besides, I wanted to do something with Seras in it, even if it never actually saw the light of day. _Mmm, Seras…_)  But the one other person who I actually let read it said he was hoping it would explore the concept a bit more deeply.  _Thank you Ministry Agent, now I seem to have committed myself._  Or perhaps I should be committed.  I've always thought so…

*****

BobR

7/5/2003


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